If you are building a new home, an addition or renovating some of your living spaces, you may want to think about the thickness of your walls. To get the most comfort as well as energy efficiency in your home – whether you are heating in the winter, cooling in the summer or a little of both in the swing seasons – it truly pays to have thicker walls packed with insulation.
Various Wall Thickness Possibilities
The standard wall thickness in home construction used to be 4 inches but has increased to 6 inches for any new construction conducted today.
With only a 4-inch wall and layer of insulation, your home is experiencing some convection and air can move right through it. That means that in the winter, cold air can come into your home while heat can go out. A 6-inch wall and layer of insulation does slow the movement of air in and out but still allows it to go to the further wall.
Our recommendation for wall thickness with new construction is double the current standard – 12 inches. With densely packed cellulose insulation in those walls, you can completely stop air from leaving or penetrating your living space. There would be no convection and no thermal bridging or resistance. Your home would be able to achieve an ideal R-value of 3.7 per inch of insulation.
We aren’t suggesting you rebuild your home to include 12-inch walls, but wall thickness is something you might want to think about with any upcoming home construction or renovation. With 12-inch walls of insulation, your home can achieve superior protection, climate control, comfort and energy-efficiency.
See our video for a demonstration of the benefits of thicker walls
Dolphin Insulation – Optimizing Insulation-The thicker your walls, the better.mp4 from Chris Alphen on Vimeo.
Cool Fact:
In addition to energy cost savings, insulation creates uniform warmth and comfort throughout the home, especially on the 2nd floor. So everyone has a warm bedroom (no more wearing sweats to bed!) and you can use all your living spaces comfortably in the winter.
Hot Tip:
Planning to remodel or put on an addition this year? Make sure to well-insulate! The $$$ you save on energy as a result can go toward the cost of the remodel!
